Luca Scarlet stepped out from behind her brother, her arms already crossed over her chest in a perfect imitation of Rebecca. She looked at Lencar with a critical eye, though she couldn't quite hide the small, relieved twitch at the corner of her mouth.
"You were gone for a much longer time than you said again," Luca noted, her voice mock-stern. "The tavern kitchen is a mess, you know. Rebecca tried to do the potatoes your way, but she kept burning the edges."
"Hey!" Rebecca protested from the side, though she was smiling.
"At least say where you went this time," Luca pressed, stepping closer. "Was it a dungeon? You look like you've been in a dungeon."
Before Lencar could formulate a safe answer, a smaller, much quieter figure rushed into the room.
Pem Scarlet.
The youngest didn't speak. He didn't ask questions. He simply dodged around his siblings and grabbed the hem of Lencar's dark coat, holding on tightly as if he were afraid Lencar might evaporate if he let go.
Lencar looked down at the three children clustered around him. He looked at their messy hair, their bright eyes, and the sheer, unfiltered joy on their faces.
Something inside him—something cold and clinical that had been forged in the white silence of the Vault—softened.
"…Alright," Lencar said, his voice warm. "One at a time. I can't answer four questions at once."
Marco pointed at him immediately, his finger nearly poking Lencar's chest. "No, me first! Where did you go? How far was it?"
"… Very Far," Lencar replied, leaning against the doorframe.
"How far? Like… to the Capital?"
"…Far enough that you wouldn't like the walk, Marco. Your legs would have given out halfway there."
Marco's eyes widened to the size of saucers. "That far?! Were there monsters?!"
"What were you doing?" Luca asked, her eyes sharp.
"…Work," Lencar said. "I found some… rare materials. Very rare."
"What kind of work?" Luca narrowed her eyes. "You don't look like you were picking flowers, Lencar."
Lencar paused briefly. He thought about the Diamond General. He thought about the Spade mage. He thought about the way he had carved runes into his own meridians.
Then—he looked at Luca.
"…The kind of work where people don't give things away willingly, Luca. The kind where you have to be very careful where you step."
Marco leaned forward instantly, his excitement reaching a fever pitch. "So you fought them?! You fought the people who wouldn't give the things?!"
"…Some of them," Lencar admitted.
"And beasts?!" Marco added, his voice a frantic whisper. "Were there giant scorpions? Or shadow wolves?!"
A faint, tired breath left Lencar. It was almost a quiet laugh.
"…Yeah. A few. One or two that were definitely too big for their own good."
"What kind?! Did you use your wind magic?!"
Lencar patted Marco on the head. "…They were big enough, Marco. Let's leave it at that."
Marco grinned like he had just been told he was going to be the next Magic Emperor. "I knew it! I told Luca you were out doing something cool! I told her you weren't just picking weeds!"
Luca shook her head slightly, though she stepped closer and tugged on Lencar's sleeve, checking the fabric. "…You're not helping, Marco. He's going to get an ego."
"He asked," Lencar noted.
Pem, who had remained silent the entire time, tugged on Lencar's sleeve again. His hands were a bit sticky—probably from honey—and he was already working a smudge into the dark wool of the coat.
Lencar looked down at the youngest Scarlet and adjusted the hem of his coat slightly so it wouldn't tear under the boy's surprisingly strong grip.
"…You asked me to bring something back before I left, didn't you?" Lencar said softly.
Marco froze. His jaw dropped. Luca's eyes widened.
"You remembered?!" Marco shouted. "I thought you were joking!"
"…I don't joke about gear, Marco."
Lencar reached into the deep inner pocket of his coat—effectively reaching into the spatial storage of his silver ring. He didn't pull out anything glowing or dangerous. He had spent an hour in the Vault specifically preparing these.
He pulled out a small, wrapped bundle.
"Marco. For you."
Marco grabbed the gift with trembling hands, ripping away the cloth. Inside was a small, beautifully carved wooden knight. It was made from the dense, white wood of the Thunder-Crag Peaks, and Lencar had used a tiny, microscopic bit of Earth magic to make the joints movable.
"Whoa… look at the shield! It actually moves! It's like a real Magic Knight!"
"Luca."
Lencar handed her a small leather pouch. She opened it carefully, her cynical facade crumbling as she poured the contents into her palm.
Inside were several smooth, palm-sized stones. They weren't just pebbles; they were volcanic glass from the Kiten region, polished until they gleamed like black mirrors. Each one had a faint, naturally occurring pattern that looked like a swirling galaxy.
"…These are beautiful," Luca whispered, turning one over in the light. "Where did you find these? This isn't from anywhere near Nairn."
"…A very deep hole," Lencar replied.
Finally, he looked down at Pem.
"And for the one who doesn't talk."
Lencar pulled out a single, large, faintly shimmering shell. It was a pale, pearlescent pink, and it radiated a very faint, soothing warmth—a residual trace of the Cursed Water transformation near the coast.
Pem grabbed the shell immediately, his eyes going wide as he felt the warmth. He held it tightly against his chest with both hands.
"…Mine," Pem whispered. It was the first thing he had said all night.
"…Yours," Lencar confirmed.
"Hey! Don't eat it, Pem!" Rebecca said immediately, seeing the boy starting to lift the edge of the shell toward his mouth.
Too late.
Clink. Pem had already tried to take a celebratory bite.
The house exploded into noise. Marco started narrating a battle between his wooden knight and an invisible dragon. Luca started explaining the mineral composition of the glass stones to a confused-looking Marco. Pem was running in circles, holding his shell like a treasure.
"Inside! All of you!" Rebecca commanded, her voice regaining its big sister authority. "It's cold out here, and Lencar needs to sit down before he falls over!"
The kids didn't argue. They surged into the house like a colorful tide of chaos, their voices fading into the warmth of the living room.
The front porch became quiet again.
Lencar stood there, the cool evening air brushing his face. He looked at Rebecca.
She was standing a few feet away, her arms crossed, watching him with a gaze that was far too perceptive for his comfort.
"…You didn't have to bring them anything, Lencar," she said softly. "They would have been happy just seeing your face again."
"They were waiting," Lencar replied. "It's bad manners to show up empty-handed after a delay... And they also asked to bring them something."
"…They always wait. They've been asking about 'Big Brother Lencar' every single morning for five days."
A pause. The wind rustled the leaves of the trees in the garden.
"…So do I," Rebecca added. Her voice was barely a whisper now, lost in the shadows of the porch.
Lencar didn't answer immediately. He looked at the crooked door frame she had tried to fix.
"…I know," he said.
Rebecca stepped closer. She reached out and touched the sleeve of his coat, her fingers tracing the heavy, strange fabric. She lowered her voice, the playfulness from before completely gone.
"…This wasn't a normal trip to pick herbs, was it, Lencar?"
Silence fell between them. It wasn't a sterile silence like the Vault. It was a heavy, expectant silence.
Lencar looked at her. He saw the worry in her eyes. He saw the way she was trying to bridge the gap between the man she knew and the monster he was becoming.
"…No," Lencar admitted. "It wasn't."
"…I figured. You smell like a mountain that's been struck by lightning. And you're heavier. I can feel it when you stand. It's like you're made of stone now."
She exhaled slowly, a long, weary sound of resignation.
"I'm not going to ask you what it was. I'm not a fool. I know you won't tell me, and I know that if I knew, I probably wouldn't sleep at night anyway."
She paused, her hand tightening slightly on his sleeve.
"But don't lie to me either, Lencar. Not about the important things."
"I won't," Lencar promised.
She studied him again, her eyes searching his for one last confirmation.
"…Just come back," she said.
Her voice was quieter now. But it carried more weight than a Stage 1 spell.